Chapter Text
Peter was trying to catch his breath. They had just beat Loretta and she gave Peter a run for his runes. So far Caria Manor had been his toughest trek yet. Blaidd strode in his silent elegance back to Peter, not even breaking much of a sweat through the Royal Knight's assault though it had seemed she barely broke her attention away from the tarnished. That didn't mean the half wolf took the time to help, mostly just watched Peter's struggle. When the human steadied his breathing is when he returned light to the grace in the middle of the reflecting pool.
"Thanks for your help." Peter said sardonically to Blaidd. The shadow snickered.
"No one said the path to be Elden Lord would be an easy one. Besides, I'm not always gonna be around to solve your problems." The half wolf retorted.
"I can hold my own, if that's what you're worried about."
"Yes, I can see that but this was more of a test for you than anything." Blaidd told Peter, heading towards the archway out of the manor.
"Test? Has everything else I've been doing up until now been meaningless? How much more do I have to prove to you?" Peter felt is temper rising and his voice betrayed that. Blaidd the past few days had barely helped exploring and felt more of a burden to have than anything. The half wolf must've noticed his tone as his ears has perked up and turned to face the aspiring lord. He met Peter half way and took a knee and rested a gauntlet on Peter's pauldron.
"Don't take it personally, mate. You've proven all you need to me back in Limgrave." he placed his other hand on his own chestplate, over his heart, "This wasn't for me, I promise." His eyes were filled with sincerity.
Peter bit the insides of his cheeks in thought. He felt bad for his previous thoughts and gave a sigh, "Promise this is the last trial?"
"I promise."
"Good, now where to?" Blaidd stood back on both feet, fanning his cloak out.
"Out the door and southwest a bit but we're gonna swing a little wide because I don't want to deal with Adula."
They left the reflecting pool courtyard and out into the cool dusk air of the Three Sisters. The two of them followed the path until heavy footsteps were heard and felt ahead. Blaidd grabbed Peter by the hand and took him off the path through the ruins. Guiding him through the dilapidated buildings past the glimpses of the glintstone dragon. They climbed the hill until they were at the steps into the rise. The pack of wolves paid them no mind as they past.
Inside, Peter went through the few rooms filled with books and appliances that he had no idea the purpose behind.
"Go on ahead, I'll wait here. She'll want to only speak with you." Blaidd motioned towards the stairs that lead to the lift.
Peter nodded and left his friend. He rose to the tallest room and sat a familiar figure, Renna, in the chair at the opposite of the entrance. Her head hung and massive hat covered most of her body. The tarnished stood in front of her and he waited for some sort of response. Eventually the body moved and twitched before rising, straightening out like a puppet would, back straightening out first before her head rose to look at him.
"Ahh it's you Tarnished, forgive me for I have forgotten your name." Peter reminded her of it, "Of course, pleased our paths have crossed again and that Torrent seems happy. I must ask though, I don't remember inviting you so what brings you here?"
The way she worded her question slightly irked Peter, "Blaidd. I've been traveling with him the past fortnight and he insisted that I finally come here and meet you."
"I hope he has been most amicable." A rhetorical question, framed in a implicated manner, "Well, then you enrapturing my shadow has been fate steering to us together again. Would you wish to enter my service? Blaidd would be most pleased if you did."
She used Peter's emotions as leverage against him and it worked but 'service' was a big hanging question, "What what does that entail?"
"I am not the Renna I claimed to you during our first meeting, I am the witch Ranni. I stole Death long ago and now I intend to go deeper. I wish to uproot all of the Golden Order and replace it with something new, something better."
"And where would I fit in with all of this then?" Peter's brow raised in intrigue.
"I need a tarnished to become my lord and help usher in this new era, I can't do it myself."
Peter weighed his options. He had no reason to say no and his reasons to say yes all included the very attractive half wolf that sat below a few stories. Something deep in the recesses of his mind nagged at him about something but it wasn't prevalent.
"Ranni the witch, I will enter your service." Peter said while taking a knee. She told him to rise not to long after.
"A choice well made. A rarity you are, not many would have accepted the offer. But those under my command are rarities. I anticipate good work from you, Peter. We must proceed with do haste. You've clearly met Blaidd and a whisper on the wind told me you met with Iji as well, you'll just have to meet Seluvis then. They've met below in the tower to fill you in on our current plans: searching for the hidden treasure of Nokron, the Eternal City. There's not many I have ever said this about but these three are trustworthy, feel secure in their presence. You're dismissed until you come back from Nokron."
Peter bid her farewell. He went back down to the grace and found that an apparition of Iji and a new face accompanied Blaidd.
"Ah, there he is. So, have you decided to join us?" Iji softly asked Peter as he entered to which the tarnished confirmed, "Wonderful. Come, join us and we'll fill you in." He shifted a hand to the wide brimmed, masked figure, "This is-
"I can introduce myself, Iji." He interrupted the troll with a dismissive wave of his hand, "I am Seluvis, preceptor of the sorcerous arts. You must be Ranni's new hireling." he said with contempt, "I don't know what she sees in a provin-"
"That's enough, Seluvis!" Blaidd's turn to interrupt as he snapped at the sorcerer.
"Oh? Seems I struck a nerve." Seluvis said with venomous curiosity. A snarl twitching out of the corner of Blaidd's mouth. Peter looking back and forth between the two with concern. Hostility like this was little unbecoming of Blaidd.
"That's enough, gentleman." Iji's calm demeanor breaking the tension forming, "Moving on, we need to acquire this sacred and dangerous relic from the Nox in Nokron. We know from texts that the Nokron can be seen in the underground river of Siofra. We need to find a path or any sort of entrance to the Eternal City."
"No books have any mention of outsiders entering the Eternal City and if there has been I doubt they were given any sort of opportunity to write it down and publish their works. So we have to do the scrounging ourselves." Seluvis told them.
"That's where we come in, you and I are to go to Siofra. We gotta get there and retrieve the artifact." Blaidd finished.
"So what are we looking for exactly? How do we know what is this treasure?" Peter asked. They all looked amongst themselves.
"We... aren't quite certain. Ranni never told us what it is." Seluvis answered.
"I've been told that we'll know it when we see it." Blaidd pitched in.
"Siofra is a mostly forgotten realm. Last we've heard of it was a mercenary company had started their own search for Nokron but they disappeared as fast as they entered. It's gonna be tough but I believe in you two. Just be careful, please." Iji finished off the information. Peter had no questions for the lot so the two specters bid a do, both offering services at any time though one was a lot less happy about the offer than the other. By the time they were done, night had reigned for about an hour.
"I don't know about you, Blaidd, but I'm exhausted. I really don't want to set camp up."
"That's fine, we have a better option than a bedroll for the night. Follow me."
